VIDEO: Naples City Council decides to meet less

Naples City Councilwoman Teresa Heitmann and Mayor Bill Barnett discuss the pros and cons of reducing the number of workshops to one a month.

Video by: Jenna Buzzacco

NAPLES - Political junkies beware.

Naples City Council will hold fewer meetings beginning in April.

Naples City Council on Wednesday voted 6-1 to hold one workshop a month beginning in April. The schedule will stay in place until council returns from its summer recess in August, when council will evaluate whether new the schedule is working.

Councilwoman Teresa Heitmann cast the dissenting vote.

"I don't know how we're going to condense it," she said. "I don't know if just because we eliminate one (meeting), we'll eliminate certain items from going on (the agenda.)"

Naples City Council holds four meetings — two workshops and two regular meetings — a month. Workshops, held the Monday before the Wednesday meeting, give council members a chance to discuss city in a casual environment and often stretch into the early evening.

No action is taken during workshops, and often-times the discussions do not reflect the action items on the following meeting's agenda.

City Manager Bill Moss said reducing the number of meetings each month is not meant to hinder public input. Instead, it's an attempt to save some cash by freeing up city staff members. The city is facing a $2.1 million budget shortfall in fiscal 2010.

Moss said it's hard to quantify the savings, but eliminating a workshop will mean department heads will have one additional day a month to work on projects, and not be held up with council.

"I can't say it's a 25 percent savings because we've reduced the meetings by one, but there will be a meaningful difference in administrative time," he said.

Less administrative time doesn't necessarily mean shorter meetings. Workshops vary in length, and Heitmann said she was concerned that with meetings already occasionally going into the early evening, things would eventually get cut for time.

"To me it's going to be postponing issues and discussions," she said.

Mayor Bill Barnett said that won't be the case though. Barnett said Wednesday that council would provide the same quality of service with one workshop as they currently provide with two.

"(Residents) are going to get the same quality and quantity," he said. "We will work mornings, we will work afternoons, and like I said the other day ... we'll work evenings. We'll get it done, and we're not going to be rushing through it."

The decision to eliminate one workshop a month comes on the heels of a recommendation by Councilman Gary Price to shorten each meeting to save money.

Price last month told council one way the city could save money was by knocking an hour off of each City Council meeting. Skimming an hour off each meeting would save the city $228,000 a year.

That number does not factor in the cost of having city consultants in the audience or council's salary. Naples City Council members make $23,500 a year, while the mayor makes $30,000 a year.